Mac 2.0, or Mourning the Lost

October 4th, 2007 admin

Over the past few days, I have been receiving my new computer, piecemeal.

I loved my laptop, a 1.0 GHz iBook, but it was time to move on. A couple of factors spurred the purchase:

• My younger brother just started college, and needed (read: wanted) a swank laptop on the cheap.
• I’ve felt a little constrained with the smallish 14″ laptop display

Neither of these alone would have caused me to get rid of the machine, but together, I thought they made a decent enough argument.

So, what did I get?  After much deliberation, I ended up with a Mac Mini and decent 22″ Acer widescreen monitor. I loved the laptop form factor; but I felt that I really wasn’t served by either of the two Apple offerings. The MacBook wouldn’t have helped the claustrophobic display, and the MacBook Pro was a little out of my price range. Why didn’t I look at Windows (or Linux) machines? As a software engineer, I deal with a Windows box at work every day. I sort of like the dichotomy. It makes the mental switch from work mode to !work mode that much easier.

On the other hand, I feel that I usually spend far too much time on the computer. For me, the portability of the laptop was also a mark against it. If I have the computer in another room of the apartment, I am less likely to spend inordinate amounts of time doing nothing on it.

So far, I like the machine. I went with the 2.0 GHz model, stock, except for doubling the RAM. It runs nicely. The monitor I went with was the Acer AL2216Wbd. I can’t complain much about it; it looks nice, a very crisp picture. One problem; I’ve got one dead (missing) pixel. It doesn’t really interfere with anything, but it is pretty easy to see.  Next time, I’ll go with a manufacturer with a more consumer friendly dead pixel policy. For my keyboard, I went with the new style Mac keyboard. Very nice and easy to type on. Reminds quite a bit of the iBook’s keyboard, only more spacious. As for the mouse, just a vanilla $15.00 Logitech. I tried to like the Mighty Mouse, but I just couldn’t get a feel for it.

Anyway, I expect to put out a podcast this Saturday like normal, but it may be a little later than normal if I have unexpected difficulties.

Posted in Hardware, Introduction, Mac | No Comments »

Now with 100% more ads!

August 11th, 2007 admin

As I’ve said a few times, the purpose of this blog is really to learn more about web development and cool new technologies.

Given that, I decided to put some Google ads on the site. While I may have dreams of one day retiring rich from my job as the next Rupert Murdoch media mogul. I hold no illusions of grandeur attached to this site. This is just a test.

Posted in Introduction, Web Design | No Comments »

Podcast 0.

July 11th, 2007 admin

Here is the zeroth episode of the podcast. Zero as in content, zero as in importance, zero as in amount of music played. But, it is a start.

Hopefully One won’t suck as much.

Posted in Introduction, Podcast | No Comments »

Candied Brain changes

July 7th, 2007 admin

I’ve been fiddling again.

I’ve added the podPress plugin to my installation. Currently, I’m just putting my readings from LibriVox, but should be changing over time.

I also tried my hand at creating a logo:

I whipped it up in Inkscape. Pretty basic, but I had some fun working on it. Now, I need to figure out how to add it to my theme.

Posted in Introduction, Podcast | No Comments »

Expanding My Horizons

April 6th, 2007 admin

Welcome to Candied Brain. This site is my first serious attempt to create a webpage. This Wordpress installation will most likely be a temporary; I wanted something to live here while I work.

Despite its transitory nature, this page should not remain empty. Whether that is good or bad will be seen.

Posted in Introduction | No Comments »